In Lev. 18:22"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination" Lev. 18:22 ESV. and Lev. 20:13"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them" Lev. 20:13 ESV., a homosexual act is viewed as an abomination or tô‛êbah. Some people believe that that since the Bible states that homosexual acts were an abomination, they were considered to be more evil than other sins cited within the Mosaic law. The Old Testament refers to abominations with two different words: tô‛êbah and sheqets. Lev. 11:10-12 ESV states, "But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales . . . is detestable (sheqets) to you. You shall regard them as detestable (sheqets); you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest (sheqets) their carcasses. Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable (sheqets) to you." Compare the verse with the King James Version: Lev. 11:10-12 KJV "And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers . . . they shall be an abomination (sheqets) unto you: They shall be even an abomination (sheqets) unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcasses in abomination (sheqets). Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination (sheqets) unto you."

Notice that Lev. 11:10-12 ESV substitutes the words "detest" and "detestable" for sheqets, and Lev. 11:10-12 KJV uses the word "abomination" for sheqets. Yet, both detestable things and abominations are referred to by the same word: sheqets. However, Lev. 18:22 ESV states, "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination." Compare the verse to the King James Version: Lev. 18:22 KJV "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. . . ." Notice that Lev. 18:22 ESV keeps the same word for "abomination" as Lev. 18:22 KJV. Both of these translations use the word tô‛êbah when referencing abominations in these passages.

Some people argue that the ancient Hebrew word for "abomination," tô‛êbah, in Lev. 18:22"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination" Lev. 18:22 ESV. has a different meaning than the ancient Hebrew word for "abomination," sheqets, in Lev. 11:10-22. According to Strong's Concordance, tô‛êbah means "something disgusting (morally), that is, (as noun) an abhorrence; especially idolatry or (concretely) an idol,"3 and shequets means "filth, that is, (figuratively and specifically) an idolatrous object."4 For their argument to be true, then tô‛êbah would have to be used in the Old Testament only when referring to morally objectionable customs, and sheqets would have to be used in the Old Testament only when referring to "unclean" or "filthy" things. However, these words are used interchangeably in the Old Testament.

Tô‛êbah is translated as "abomination" in Deut. 14:3 ESV, "You shall not eat any abomination" and also in Deut. 17:1 ESV, "You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the LORD your God." Likewise, Gen. 46:34 ESV uses the word tô‛êbah for "abomination" in the passage, "(Y)ou shall say, 'Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,' in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians." Moreover, Exod. 8:26 ESV uses the word tô‛êbah for "abomination" in the passage, "But Moses said, 'It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the LORD our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us?'" In fact, according to Strong's Concordance, tô‛êbah is used in the Old Testament 117 times in 112 verses!5

The English Standard Version of the Bible translates Lev. 11:10-12 differently than the King James Version of the Bible. Lev. 11:10-12 ESV states, "But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales . . . is detestable to you. You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses. Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you." Compare the verse with Lev. 11:10-12 KJV, "And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers . . . they shall be an abomination unto you: They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcasses in abomination. Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you."

Notice that Lev. 11:10-12 ESV substitutes the words "detest" and "detestable" for sheqets and Lev. 11:10-12 KJV uses the word "abomination" for sheqets. However, Lev. 18:22 ESV states, "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination." Compare the verse to Lev. 18:22 KJV, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." Lev. 18:22 ESV keeps the same word for "abomination" as Lev. 18:22 KJV. Both Lev. 18:22 ESV and Lev. 18:22 KJV use the word tô‛êbah to describe an abomination, which simply shows that one act (a man lying with another man) is more reprehensible than the other (a man eating a forbidden creature).